Aljamain Sterling has taken aim at bantamweight rival, Sean O’Malley ahead of their expected title showdown at UFC 292 in August – referring to the challenger as a “wannabe Conor McGregor.
Sterling, the reigning bantamweight champion is slated to headline UFC 292 on August 19. from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts – defending his crown against Montana native, O’Malley.
The most successful bantamweight champion in Octagon history, Sterling became the first titleholder in the history of the division to rack up three consecutive successful title defenses, defeating Henry Cejudo earlier this month at UFC 288.
Aljamain Sterling involved in dispute with Dana White
Sharing a war of words somewhat with UFC leader, Dana White ahead of his expected battle with O’Malley at UFC 292 in August, Sterling, who predicted a rather quickfire and one-sided submission win in their championship clash, poked fun at the farmer’s intial UFC trajectory.
“Anytime this man (Sean O’Malley) has stepped in there with a shark in the deep end, he’s been chewed up for the most part, every single time,” Aljamain Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Maybe not say chewed up – actually, [against] ‘Chito’ (Marlon Vera) he got flattened. You ever see a domino? How you topple it over and it just falls? [That’s Sean O’Malley].”
“We just haven’t seen this magic knockout from ‘wannabe knock-off McGregor’,” Aljamain Sterling continues. “That was like the trajectory that he was on. But, for some reason, its just like people don’t got the juice or the formula to be Conor.” (Transcribed by Middleeasy)
Prior to his successful title knockback against former two-weight champion, Cejudo earlier this month at UFC 288 – Sterling landed a stoppage win over former champion, T.J. Dillashaw – as well as former titleholder, Petr Yan in the pair’s title unification rematch.
Last featuring in the co-main event of UFC 280, O’Malley, the current #2 ranked bantamweight landed a decision win over common-foe, Yan over the course of a debated three round decision success.